Robert Clive
Robert Clive (1725-74), British soldier and founder of the British Empire in India. Initially a clerk with the East India Company in Madras (1744), he showed brilliant leadership as a volunteer officer against the French and helped to establish British power in India (1746-51). In 1755 he took command of the Madras army and recaptured Calcutta, where 146 British prisoners had been shut up in the ‘black hole’ by the Nawab of Bengal. Clive’s victory at Plassey finished the campaign and in 1765 he became governor of Bengal. However, he had made enemies in England and was threatened with impeachment on his return there. Although acquitted of the charges against him, he is believed to have com-mitted suicide as a result.
